5.06.2020

April Book Reviews

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker
Thanks to the folks at Catapult, I was able to get a complimentary early digital copy of Godshot. This story of a girl coming of age, while stuck in a dead-end town and being brainwashed by a cult was a WILD ride. Lacey May is an utterly authentic and compelling character, whom I wanted to hug and smack upside the head in equal measure. The same goes for her mother, the town beauty who is the focus of the evil pastor’s designs. Godshot offered up a lot to think about when it comes to the relationship between mothers and daughters, what makes a family, and what it means to forgive.
I flew through this book wanting to know how things would end up for Lacey May. I find books about cults rather fascinating, even though this was fictitious. One might wonder where the author drew her inspiration, as some of the details were pretty horrific (Lots of trigger warnings - definitely research before reading, or shoot me a DM.) but she grabbed my attention in a visceral way. Bieker certainly nails the inherent misogyny of cults.
“But my body did exist and was only growing bigger. I would only keep existing more and more, and then when the baby came she too would exist, angering men and boys all on her own. When did this end? I wondered.”
If you think a sinister, and also weirdly charming story about a young girl in throes of a cult sounds fascinating, for sure grab this singular debut!

The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
I normally save Elin Hilderbrand books for the summer. However, with my waning attention span and anxiety these days, I decided that getting to some unread backlist might be a good idea! The Blue Bistro wasn’t my favorite narrative of her novels, but the food writing sure was! If you know Hilderbrand’s work, you know that the love she puts into talking about food is such a huge part of her appeal. That, and being so vividly transported to beautiful Nantucket, which was SO NICE RIGHT NOW.
If you haven’t read any of her novels, hit me up and I can try to recommend one that might be perfect for you! I especially like to recommend her to fans of Louise Penny, because they have many of the same enchanting elements.

Here for It by R. Eric Thomas
 I’m really glad that I had R. Eric Thomas to keep me company in the last few weeks at home doing the thousands of dishes and loads of laundry that come with going absolutely nowhere. Anyway! Anyone that can tie in my favorite childhood read aloud (The Monster at the End of This Book) from the beginning of their memoir, to the heartwarming ending is TOPS in my book! This was an astute, eye opening, and obviously good humored collection of essays on his coming of age and confronting issues of race, class, LGBTQ, and religion. Highly, highly recommend!

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
I hadn’t planned on reading the next winter-y installment of Inspector Gamache in April, but here I am craving those comfort reads. Bury Your Dead was excellent, of course, and each book just compounds upon the last. I rather enjoyed the tied up loose ends from the previous novel, while also taking in Québéc through Penny’s eyes in this volume. It’s like being given the gift of travel right now.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I finally CAVED to this series that is all over Bookstagram. I dabble in fantasy books a few times a year, but many of the hyped series didn’t suck me in past the first book - Six of Crows, Caraval, A Darker Shade of Magic... All great, just didn’t have that something that made me want to devour them. (Sorry! I know how beloved those titles are!) ACOTAR is reminding me of my reading experience with The Selection or Twilight series: kind of ridiculous, but so ADDICTIVE. It’s like Katniss mashed up with Cinderella whilst being rather sexy (PSA: not all fantasy written by women is YA). I have already ordered the next book!

The Whisper Man by Alex North
This was the first fiction novel I have ever listened to on audiobook! I tried to when I first started listening to audiobooks, but learned quickly that nonfiction holds my attention best, preferably memoir. But I had a complimentary advance copy sitting in my Libro.fm account and thought that I'd give this thriller a go. I listen to books at normal speed (or sometimes 1.1 speed, which is so awesome this is available on Libro.fm), but I pushed this one up to 1.25 in the final chapters, absolutely riveted. The ending was downright unsettling. If you are into creepy thrillers, I would definitely recommend this story about a child killer who whispers in victim's bedroom windows, complete with a scary rhyme about 'The Whisper Man.' *shudder*